Nineteen Years Later
by hpjkrowling4ever
Summary: Nineteen years later, Harry, Ginny and Lily go back to fetch their two eldest from Hogwarts. An old rivalry is ended and a new friendship begins. COMPLETE


_Disclaimer:__ None of my work belongs to me, it is solely the property of the one and only J.K. Rowling and any other company which has the copyright of Harry Potter, including Warner Bros. Nothing here belongs to me; all the characters are J.K. Rowling's originally, though any new character not part of the Harry Potter series belongs to me._

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**Title:** Nineteen Years Later

**Author:** hpjkrowling4ever

Nineteen Years Later

"Mum! Mum! Mum, where are you?" Ginny sighed as she heard her daughter's loud cries echoing around the house. She lifted her feet off the kitchen table, put down her quill and parchment and stood up, brushing herself off.

"I'm here, sweetheart!" Ginny called in reply to her daughter. Almost as soon as she said it, the door flew open, crashed against the wall and a whirlwind of red hair and bright clothes raced towards her. Ginny barely had time to put down her papers and her quill before Lily Luna Potter barreled into her and started jumping up and down in her arms.

"Mum, Mum, Mum, _Mum_! Hurry _up_! We're gonna be _late_!"

Another set of steadier, less hurried footsteps made their way to the kitchen and Harry Potter stood leaning against the doorframe, dressed in his regal purple Auror robes and looking thoroughly dishevelled. Ginny smiled at him fondly and he grinned back mischievously. Ginny frowned at him, then at her daughter, when she realised that her husband was more than likely the cause of her daughter's excitement.

"Lily-flower –" Harry started, blanching at Ginny's frown.

"I told you _not_ to call me that, Dad." Lily looked at her father with a ferocious scowl, reminding Ginny of herself in the face of her brothers. Lily was surprisingly similar to her mother and Ginny hoped that she never discovered her mother's affinity for the Bat-Bogey hex.

Harry chuckled, and instead of replying, he picked Lily up effortlessly and twirled her around until her scowl disappeared and she was giggling. When his robes had stopped billowing around him, Harry knelt down in front of her and brushed a stray strand of red hair behind her ear.

"Tell you what, Lils, why don't you go get the presents you made and meet us at the door?"

The young girl seemed to ponder on that option for a while and then she nodded and ran off. Harry stood up and went over to his wife. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he guided her gently to the door.

"Where did all the peace and quiet go, eh?" Harry asked wryly, glancing at his wife. Ginny glared half-heartedly at him.

"Come on, it's your fault we're late, my _dear_ husband." With that, Ginny tossed her head and walked in a dignified fashion to the door before bursting into laughter. Harry joined in and the two adults ran to the door like children, excited to see their sons again.

The platform was just how Harry remembered it to be, except without the train and not as noisy as the start of term. Parents were chattering quietly to each other, and Harry looked around for his godson, whom they were supposed to be meeting.

"Boo!" Harry whirled around, his wand held out and pointing at the source of the sound. The echoes of the war still haunted him sometimes and he had been on edge after his fieldwork that day. His nineteen-year-old godson Teddy jumped back, his hair turning from turquoise to black in seconds.

"Dad! You're not allowed to hurt Teddy!" Lily complained from beside Harry, who smiled sheepishly at his godson and pulled him into a hug despite his protests that he was too old for them.

"You're never too old to be hugged, Teddy. You here to see Vicky?" Harry asked his godson with a sly smile. Teddy grinned unashamedly at his godfather as he bent down to comply to Lily's request for a hug. Teddy was her role model, much to Harry's chagrin, because despite his godson's calm temperament inherited from Remus, he also had a great deal of Marauder spirit and a good dose of Tonks' sense of humour.

"Of course, but I couldn't miss the chance to see you. Or you, ladybug." Teddy said to Lily, and that was that. Before his daughter could pull Teddy too far into her clutches, Harry whispered in his godson's ear,

"Teds, be careful. The press'll be arriving soon and I don't want another front-page photograph of you snogging Vicky. Got it?"

Teddy nodded in agreement, accepting his godfather's mild rebuke, and turned back to Lily, who was prattling to him animatedly. Suddenly, Harry was pulled into a hug from behind and he turned his head to see Hermione.

"Hello you too," Harry said, turning around fully and returning her hug. He kissed her cheek and then turned to Ron, who was greeting his sister.

"Hiya Ron. George and Angelina not here yet?" Harry asked, pulling Ron into a brief hug and then letting go.

"Nah, he's just locking up. I told him if he didn't hurry up he'd miss Roxie and Freddie arriving. I wonder how those two are managing. I heard they'd been sorted into Gryffindor, as per usual."

"Not per usual, though." Hermione said, joining the conversation. "Rosie was sorted into Ravenclaw."

Ron grimaced.

"She takes after you, my dear." Hermione elbowed Ron and was about to say something but Lily started shouting loudly.

Almost at once, they all turned their heads to the sound of a faraway steam train. Harry vaguely saw Draco Malfoy and his wife Astoria Greengrass rush into the station, but that was all he could see before the train had pulled up and he was peering through the thick steam to see if he could notice his sons.

A loud yell in his direction made him turn around and his youngest son was flying into his arms and clutching him around the waist. Albus Severus Potter looked up at his father with the same wide green eyes and then buried his head in his father's chest. Harry held back just as tightly. He had missed his son very much. Out of all his children, he was closest to Albus and had missed him fiercely, which had been exacerbated by Albus' hard start to term.

Not many people had taken the fact that Albus was Slytherin well.

"Hey there, Albie. Where's your trunk, mate?"

Still clutching his father, Albus and Harry made their way to where the trunks were being unloaded. A tug at his other arm had him turn around and he found himself looking into the face of his other son. James Sirius Potter grinned cheekily at his father and glowered at his brother.

"I _told_ you not to go looking for Dad, Al. He was going to come here anyway."

"Hello to you too, young man. How was term?"

Of course, this was the cue for James to burst into story, giving his father a blow-by-blow account of his term, while alternating between waving his arms around dangerously and flicking his mop of black hair behind his ear. Harry listened, occasionally humming or nodding, while looking for their trunks.

"-And then Professor Longbottom said that the Mandrakes could _feel_. I mean, they're plants and why –" James was cut off by his mother, who had finally caught up with them, Lily with her. Teddy had disappeared. At the sight of James, Lily ran up and attached herself to his arm. James rolled his eyes to keep up appearances, but the way he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her tightly to him belied his pre-teen embarrassment.

Albus tugged at Harry's sleeve.

"Where are we going now, Dad?" he asked. Harry lowered himself to his son's height kissed his forehead.

"Your grandmother wants a full reunion, so we're off to the Burrow."

"Then we're going home, right?" Albus asked. James had turned around at Harry's statement and opened his mouth to protest going to the Burrow, but a look from his mother made him subside.

"I think that Lily was planning on some Quidditch, all of us together. I keep hearing that you're not too bad on a broom, eh? James said that house teams change around in second year."

Harry rose and pulled his family to him. He ignored the glances from the other families and made his way to the exit, where he could see Hermione fussing over Rose while Hugo and Ron argued about something or another.

A tap on his shoulder had him turning around and his eyes widened at the sight of Draco Malfoy, who was looking at him impassively.

"Potter."

"Malfoy, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Harry asked coldly. He had given Draco back his wand, and in return for Narcissa's part in saving his life, he had managed to prevent the Malfoys going to Azkaban and too much of their gold being taken away as compensation.

Ginny scowled viciously at Draco and James glared at the carbon copy of Draco Malfoy standing beside his father. Lily looked on with a mild look of interest while Albus frantically started to try to subtly convey a message to the young boy who stood stock still beside his father. However, the rather messy hair and rumpled robes of the boy made Harry smile inwardly, glad that Draco's son was not trying to live up to the image of a pureblooded Heir and looked a bit more laid back.

"My son has told me that it would be with great pleasure if he could continue his acquaintance with your younger son. They share a dorm together and Hogwarts and seem to have taking a liking to each other." Draco's lip curled at that and he turned to his son.

"You are correct, Father." The boy replied in an even voice, but he quirked his eyebrows in a way that made Albus snort.

Harry glanced at his son in surprise. Albus looked sheepishly up at his father and shrugged inelegantly.

"For the sake of our sons, I think we can manage to organise something. I'll get Al to send an owl."

Then, acting on an impulse, Harry stuck out his hand and watched a look of astonishment flit across Draco's face.

"We can't forget everything, but I think that it's time we moved on." Harry said very softly. His children and Ginny were uncharacteristically silent, unwilling to break the moment. Draco then gave a very small half-smile and shook Harry's hand. Both of them held on tight for a long moment before pulling away.

"It's about time, Potter." Draco said.

Harry started chuckling and pulled Albus and James to his side. Ginny nodded briefly to Draco and steered Lily towards the exit to the platform.

**_Fin_**


End file.
